Plain English Summary

Trial website

Contact information

Type

Primary contact

ORCID ID

Contact details

Health Behaviour Research Centre University College London (UCL) Brook House 2-16 Torrington Place London WC1E 7HN United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7679 0976lucy.cooke@ucl.ac.uk

Additional identifiers

EudraCT number

ClinicalTrials.gov number

Protocol/serial number

MRC ref: G0701864

Study information

Scientific title

The influence of incentives on children's consumption of vegetables: a randomised controlled multi-centre trial

Acronym

Study hypothesis

1. In children, are verbal rewards more effective than tangible rewards for increasing consumption of a target food, and for persistent changes in liking?2. To what extent are the known benefits of mere exposure dependent on verbal rewards?

Ethics approval

University College London (UCL) Research Ethics Committee, approved on 28/11/2008 (ref: 1715/001)

Study design

Randomised controlled multi-centre trial

Primary study design

Interventional

Secondary study design

Randomised controlled trial

Trial setting

Other

Trial type

Other

Patient information sheet

Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet

Condition

Children's nutrition

Intervention

Classes will be randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. All children will participate in a pre-intervention taste test at which a target vegetable will be identified for each child.

Four conditions are: Control: The children will not be required to taste their target vegetable during the training stage, with no testing taking place between pre and post tests.

No reward (exposure) condition: The children will be asked to taste their target vegetable once daily for 13 school days. These tasting sessions will not be rewarded.

Immediate tangible reward condition: The children will be asked to taste their target vegetable once daily for 13 school days. This group will immediately receive a tangible reward (one sticker of their choice) for tasting their target vegetable.

Immediate verbal reward condition: The children will be asked to taste their target vegetable once daily for 13 school days. This group will immediately be praised for tasting their target vegetable.

Secondary outcome measures

Liking and frequency of consumption of a range of vegetables as reported by a parent using food frequency and food preference questionnaires at baseline and both follow-ups (1 month and 3 months post-intervention).

Overall trial start date

01/11/2008

Overall trial end date

15/09/2009

Reason abandoned

Eligibility

Participant inclusion criteria

Children (both males and females) in Reception and Year 1 classes in primary schools

Participant type

Patient

Age group

Child

Gender

Both

Target number of participants

448

Participant exclusion criteria

Significant learning difficulties or insufficient command on English language to participate in tasting sessions.

Recruitment start date

01/11/2008

Recruitment end date

15/09/2009

Locations

Countries of recruitment

United Kingdom

Trial participating centre

Health Behaviour Research Centre
London
WC1E 7HN
United Kingdom

Sponsor information

Organisation

Medical Research Council (MRC) - National Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI) (UK)